April brings improvements to real estate market
April was the best month since August 2007 for new pending residential sales with 552 reported – up 22.7 percent from March, up 17.5 percent from April 2008 and down 15.6 percent from April 2007, according to the most recent information from Mike Lamb, associate broker at Windermere Real Estate/Stellar Group in Vancouver. Closed sales did not reflect the improvement – 333 were reported, down 13.7 percent from April 2008 – which Lamb attributes to the backlog of refinances creating an increase in the time needed to close sales.
"April's strong increase in new pending activity, on the heels of three months of improvement, is the bellwether indicator for the direction of the market," Lamb wrote in his report. "Clearly the market is improving."
Mechanical contractor buys industrial land
JR Merit Investments Inc., a mechanical contractor, bought 46,481 square feet of industrial land to be developed at Cold Creek Industrial Park, 4505 N.E. 68th Drive in Vancouver, from Genteel Investments LLC for $535, 689.
William Connelly, broker at Vancouver-based Eric Fuller and Assoc., represented the seller in the transaction.
The 40-acre Cold Creek Industrial Park was Clark County's first fast-track project.
Group to award electronic medical records grants
For the fourth consecutive year, Seattle-based public-private group Washington Health Information Collaborative will award grants of up to $25,000 to clinics and hospitals across the state. The grants will be used to allow small and rural clinics and hospitals to support greater use of electronic medical records.
This year, First Choice Health will provide $500,000 for the grants from the collaborative.
Applications in Washington are due June 10. The Oregon, Idaho and Alaska deadline is July 31. Applications and more information are available at www.wahealthinfocollaborative.org.
Clark Public Utilities sells revenue bonds
Clark Public Utilities sold $49.1 million in revenue bonds at an average interest cost of 4.6 percent to partially fund improvements in the utility's electric and generating systems. The utility also sold $9.6 million in revenue bonds to fund work at the River Road Generating Plant.
About $10.1 million will be used to refinance outstanding bonds, which will reduce CPU's borrowing costs by about $326,000, according to the utility. It expanded the sale by selling some bonds directly to retail investors through Fidelity Investments, Seattle Northwest Securities, D.A. Davidson and Edward Jones. The balance were sold to Merrill Lynch and Barclays, which sold their allocations to institutional investors.
Gregoire signs law to curb resale certificate abuse
On May 19, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed legislation to curb abuse of resale certificates that costs state and local governments more than $100 million annually in unpaid sales tax revenue. Senate Bill 6137 replaces self-issued resale certificates with sellers' permits that must be pre-approved by the Department of Revenue.
The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2010. The DOR will conduct outreach to help businesses prepare for the changeover.
Resale certificates allow businesses to buy items for resale without paying sales tax, which is then paid by the final consumer of the product. Some businesses use resale certificates to buy products tax-free for personal use with no intention of selling them to customers. And misuse of resale certificates by the construction industry accounts for about 40 percent of the $100 million in unpaid sales tax, according to DOR.
The law is expected to generate $130 million in sales tax in the 2009-11 biennium, and $204 million during the 2011-13 biennium.
